Bio of Loren Coleman
is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Coleman has written over twenty-five books and more than four hundred articles, has appeared frequently on radio and television programs, and has lectured throughout North America, as well as in London and at Loch Ness. Coleman’s former cryptozoology columns, since the 1970s, have been “On the Trail,” in the London-based Fortean Times and “Mysterious World” in Fate Magazine, as well as regular contributions to The Anomalist and Fortean Studies. His unique signature column, “The Cryptozoo News,” was published in Strange Magazine, Mysteries Magazine, and now appears as Coleman’s weblog at Cryptomundo.com
Coleman has been both an on- and off-camera consultant to NBC-TV’s “Unsolved Mysteries,” A & E’s “Ancient Mysteries,” History Channel’s “In Search of History,” Discovery Channel’s “In the Unknown, ” Discovery Science Channel’s “Critical Eye,” History Channel’s “Deep Sea Detectives,” Animal Planet’s “Animal X,” Discovery Kids’ “Mystery Hunters,” and Animal Planet’s “Twisted Tales,” and other reality-based programs such as Current Affair and Evening Magazine. In 2000, he served as the Senior Series Consultant to the new “In Search Of…” program which was broadcast on Sci-Fi Network. During 2002, he was featured in the Sony Studios’ documentary, “Search for the Mothman,” available on the deluxe DVD of the movie The Mothman Prophecies. He served as the Screen Gems’ national and international publicity spokesperson for their Richard Gere-Mark Pellington movie.
Coleman has been investigating, in the field and in the library, cryptozoological evidence and folklore since the Abominable Snowmen (Yeti) caught his interest over 45 years ago, leading him to research mysterious Black Panther sightings and reports of Napes (North American Apes) in the American Midwest. He has traveled to every state in the USA (except Alaska), throughout Canada, Mexico, Scotland, and the Virgin Islands, interviewing witnesses of Hairy Hominoids, Lake Monsters, Giant Snakes, Mystery Felids, Mothman, Thunderbirds, and other cryptids.
His first cryptozoology article was published in 1969. He went on to write two books with Jerome Clark (The Unidentified [1975] and Creatures of the Outer Edge [1978], both published by Warner Books). In the 1980s, Coleman wrote Mysterious America (1983), Curious Encounters (1985), and Tom Slick and the Search for the Yeti (1989), all bestsellers for Faber and Faber. In 1999 Loren Coleman co-authored two books: one with Patrick Huyghe called The Field Guide to Bigfoot, Yeti, and Other Mystery Primates Worldwide (Avon); the other with Jerome Clark called Cryptozoology A to Z: The Encyclopedia of Loch Monsters, Sasquatch, Chupacabras, and Other Authentic Mysteries of Nature (Simon and Schuster/Fireside). During 2002, Linden published the biography, Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology.
Coleman’s extremely popular Mysterious America: The Revised Edition (2001) and Mothman and Other Curious Encounters (2002) are published by Paraview Press. In 2003, Coleman continued his fast-paced examination of cryptozoology with two books, BIGFOOT! The True Story of Apes in America (NY: Paraview Pocket – Simon and Schuster) and The Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep (NY: Tarcher-Penguin). With the publication of Mark A. Hall’s book, Thunderbirds, Paraview Press began a projected series of cryptozoology books under the umbrella “Loren Coleman Presents….”
Loren Coleman’s special appreciation of his fellow cryptozoologists and hominologists has made him the source of biographical insights, and his obituaries and living commentaries on the leaders of the field (as noted in Cryptozoology A to Z) have been published and broadcast widely. National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” for example, called on Coleman to speak in tribute of Dr. Grover Krantz who died on Valentine’s Day, 2002. Coleman was the first person that reporter Bob Young spoke to about Ray Wallace’s death, even before the Wallace family pulled off their now infamous “confession” stories about their father’s Bigfoot hoaxes.
Obtaining an undergraduate degree from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Coleman majored in anthropology, minored in zoology, and did some summer work in archaeology. He received a graduate degree in psychiatric social work from Simmons College in Boston. Coleman was admitted to the Ph.D. programs, and took doctoral coursework in social anthropology at Brandies University, and in sociology at the University of New Hampshire’s Anthropology/Sociology Department.
Coleman has been an instructor, assistant/associate professor, research associate, and documentary filmmaker, in various academic university settings, since 1980. He gave one of the first credit courses in the USA on the subject of cryptozoology in 1990, and examined cryptozoology films in his popular documentary film class at the University of Southern Maine from 1989 through 2003. He has written extensively in the social sciences, having authored, coauthored, or edited several books, including the critically acclaimed Suicide Clusters (Faber and Faber, 1987), appearing on “The Larry King Show” discussing it. His work on the suicides of baseball players has been covered in Sports Illustrated, the Sporting News, ESPN, EPSN Classics and major media and wire services from 1986 to present. His newest book on such topics examines the role of media and cyclic violence in The Copycat Effect (NY: Paraview Pocket – Simon and Schuster, 2004).
Coleman is working on a children’s book on cryptozoology and future biographical and adventure books.
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013.
